apprehended deserted by his Father and Brethren that he should die be pierced not have a Bone broken be buried make his Grave with the Rich and the Wicked and rise again from the Dead and reap the fruit of all his Passion to his full satisfaction He hath fore-told the state of the World and the Church in the Revelations from the Primitive times to the dissolution of the World though it 's written in short-hand and in dark Characters And can any Men or Angels fore-tell such things God challengeth all the gods to do this Shew the things that are to come hereafter that we may know that ye are gods Isa 41.21 22 23. The certain Prediction of future Contingents is such an inseparable Prerogative of the Deity and such a special Priviledge of the Original of all things that he ingageth to own their Supremacy and acknowledge their Sovereignty who can do it It 's such a Jewel in his Crown that none ever shared in it I have declared the former things from the beginning I did them suddenly and they came to pass I have even from the beginning declared it to thee before it came to pass I shewed it to thee Isa 48.3 5. It 's peculiar to him who worketh all in all to fore-know and fore-tell whatsoever shall come to pass Acts 15.18 Known to God are all his Works from the beginning of the World yea from all eternity For he stood on the high Mountain of eternity and thence had a full view of all that his will would produce and whatsoever should come to pass CHAP. XVI God incomparable in his Word as it is converting affrighting and comforting 3. GOD is incomparable in the effects of his Word His Words are Works they are operative as well as declarative of his Pleasure What he speaketh hath Power and Vertue in it as well as Weight and Value 1. It is efficacious in converting the Soul The word of God can stop the tide of nature when it runneth with the greatest violence yea it can turn it the quite contrary way Let a man be in the height of his Strength in the heat of his Youth ruffling and bussling among the Sparks of the times taking a large draught of carnal Pleasures and having a full gust of sensual Delights making his whole life but a diversion from one Pleasure to another as if he were sent into the Earth as Leviathan into the waters only to play and sport there when this man is in his best estate in the Zenith of Health and Strength in the Meridian of his Age promising himself a long day of life and putting the day of death far from him and thereby giving himself the more liberty to the service of his Lusts yet if the word of God come to this man who sucketh in Wind as the wild Asses Colt it makes him pluck in his Plumes bid adieu to his foolish Pleasures leave his most beloved Lusts loath himself for ever loving them it alters the man's Palat that is bitter now which was sweet before and he cannot savour what formerly was his heaven and happiness it changeth the bent and frame of his heart that now he forsaketh with detestation what formerly he followed after as his onely felicity and chiefest good The wild man is tame the obstinate man is pliable and the distracted man is recover'd to his wits Psal 119.9 Men and Angels may perswade but God only can prevail The words of Creatures may work for an outward reformation but the word of God alone for an inward renovation He only that made the Heart can mend it Humane Counsels may do somewhat towards the hiding of the corruptions of Nature but Divine instructions are only effectual for the healing of corrupted Nature The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the Soul Psal 19.7 Converting the Soul The Law of man may bind the Body to its good behaviour but the Law of God alone can bring the Soul to its good behaviour To turn a Lion into a Lamb Darkness into Light a Stone into Flesh Death into Life all which is done in conversion can be effected by the Word of none but a God Isa 11.8 9 10. Eph. 5.8 Ezek. 26. Eph. 2.1 5. No word but his can take a Cions off from its own natural stock and ingraft it into a new stock Rom. 11.17 James 1.21 2 Cor. 10.4 Acts 2.41 Acts 4.4 2. It is efficacious in affrighting the Sinner He speaks not as Men or Angels to the Ears only but to the hidden-man of the Heart and shatters it in pieces he plants his Batteries of Threatnings and Terrors and Curses against the inward man of the Conscience and puts it into an Ague of trembling and shaking Fits as we see in Herod Acts 24.27 and levels it to the ground This word in the mouth of a poor Prisoner at the Bar frights the proud sturdy Judge on the Bench. When God speaks he makes the best people afraid and cry out Let not God speak to us least we die and the best of that people exceedingly to quake and fear Exod. 19.19 Heb. 12.21 The Voice of the Lord is terrible it shaketh the Cedars of Lebanon it shattereth the Oakes of Bashan Psal 29. Those that were Monsters of Mankind for Cruelty and Barbarousness for Stupidity and Searedness by his Word have been terrified in their Spirits wounded in their Consciences cut to the Heart and forced to call out Sirs What shall we do to be saved Acts 2.37 The most stubborn sensless Sinner whom neither Mercies nor Miseries could move or melt who mocked at the Curses of the Law and the Wrath of the Lord and as Leviathan laughed at the shaking of those Spears whom as the man possessed with the Devil no Cords could hold no Chains could fasten but he burst all asunder when the Word of the Lord hath been spoken to him instead of flying in his face as formerly when men have spoken to him he hath fallen down at his feet been filled with fears and frights felt the very Fire of Hell flaming in his conscience and become a very Magor Missabib fear or terror to himself round about The Word of God hath stuck in his Heart as the Arrow in the side of the Buck allowing no ease whithersoever he hath gone in the night scaring him with Dreams and terrifying him with Visions in the day admitting no rest in his Flesh nor quietness in his Bones forcing him in all Places and in all Companies still to carry his Jaylour his Tormentor his Executioner along with him and at last that he might escape a partial and temporal to leap into a total an eternal Hell Ah who knoweth the Power of his Anger of his angry word or is able to fear him according to his wrath Psal 90.11 I may challenge every Man every Angel as God himself doth Job Hast thou an Arm like God Canst thou thunder with thy Voice like him Job 40.9 If he utter his word of
a drop Others A whisper or smallest part of a Voice that which is known of God to that which God is and is in God is but like a drop to the vast Ocean and as a Whisper to a loud terrible Thunder How little a portion is heard of him Surely much is heard of him from the Voice of his Almighty Works of Creation and Providence and especially from the Voice of his Word and his own Mouth in the holy Scriptures But how little is heard of him in comparison of that immense excellency which is in him and which he is Heathens hear somewhat of him Rom. 1.20 21. His Saints on Earth hear much more of him Psal 63.3 4 5 6. Perfect Spirits in Heaven hear most of all of him 2 Cor. 12.3 4. 1 Cor. 13.12 Yet by all these a very little portion is heard of him The Being of God is like the Peace of God which passeth all understanding Philip. 4.7 And like the Love of Christ which passeth all knowledge Ephes 3.19 This onely can be known of God that he can never be known fully and this onely can be comprehended of him that he cannot be comprehended Canst thou by searching find out God Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection It 's as high as Heaven what canst thou do Deeper then Hell what canst thou know The measure thereof is longer then the Earth and broader then the Sea Job 11.8 9. Canst thou by searching find out God It 's a strong Negation i. e. 'T is impossible by all the help and advantage of Nature and Art and Grace and Diligence yea and perfect Glory too to find out God fully Dost thou a poor mean vile man saith Zophar think to contain and comprehend him whom the Heavens and Heaven of Heavens cannot contain or comprehend Art thou so silly as to conceive that the short line of thy understanding should fadom his bottomless Being It is not in vain for thee to seek him but it is altogether in vain for thee to search him Though he be not far from thee yet he is far above thee and far beyond thee far above thy thoughts and beyond thy conceptions He dwelleth in that Light that is inaccessible whom no man hath seen nor can see 1 Tim. 6.16 They who see him face to face i. e. most clearly and fully see but little of him Clouds and Darkness are in this sense ever about him As in a dark day we see the beams but not the body of the Sun so even in Heaven the highest Angels rather see his rays and beams then his infinite Being Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection Men who seek God may find him Prov. 8.17 Math. 7.7 but they cannot find him to perfection The word for perfection signifieth the height or utmost accomplishment of a thing Somewhat of God may be known but not all They who find out most are far from finding out the utmost of him The Sun and all the coelestial Lights may sooner be grasped in the hollow of mans hand and the vast Hills and Mountains weighed in a pair of common Scales then the Almighty found out to perfection Natural questions soon pose the most learned men the forms even of inanimate Creatures are Riddles to most How frequently do the greatest Schollars betake themselves to secret Sympathies and Antipathies and occult qualities as the Cloak and cover of their Ignorance Eccles 11.5 Canst thou know how the Bones grow of her that is with Child O how much more must Divine questions exceed humane understanding It is as high as Heaven what canst thou do It 's as the highnesses of Heaven Take all the Heights and Elevations all the Spheres and Altitudes of Heaven and try if thou canst reach them with thy short Arm yea climb up the highest Stories the loftiest Pinnacles touch if thou canst the several Orbes yet the knowledge of this God or this God the object of knowledge is above and beyond all What a Fool would he be thought who should undertake to ascend the starry Heavens yet he who would find out God to perfection must climb much higher The Heavens are famous for their height yea the starry Heavens that some wonder that the eyes of man are not tired before they reach them Prov. 25.3 The Heavens for height and the Earth for depth Yet the third Heavens are much higher then they but the most high God is far higher then the highest Heavens Deeper then Hell what canst thou know Heaven and Hell are at the greatest distance and are most remote from our apprehensions Who knoweth what is done in Heaven what in Hell what is enjoyed in the one or suffered in the other no more can any know what God is Who knoweth the nature number order motions influence of the heavenly Bodies something is conjecturally delivered about them nothing certain much less doth any know the number nature order wonder worship of the coelestial Courtiers in the third Heavens of the thousand thousand that are before God the ten thousand times ten thousand that minister to him least of all can any know that Being that made all these that preserveth all these that ordereth and governeth animateth and actuateth all these that gives them all that they are and enableth them to all that they do Deeper then Hell what canst thou know Who knoweth the Mines and Minerals which lie in the bosome in the bowels of the Earth Who knoweth the place of Saphires the Coral the Pearls and the precious Onix Job 28.5 6 7 8. Out of the Earth cometh Bread c. The stones of it are the place of Saphires and it hath dust of Gold There is a path which no Fowl knoweth and which the Vultures Eye hath not seen The Lyons Whelps have not trodden it nor the fierce Lyon passed by it Much less doth any know the Miseries of the Damned the extremity universality eternity of their Torments Who ever returned from that place to tell us what they suffered there or if they had whose Understanding is large enough to conceive them Who knoweth the Power of thine Anger according to thy Fear so is thy Wrath Psal 90.11 Least of all can any know that God Job 28.3 who setteth an end to Darkness and searcheth out all Perfection the stones of darkness and the shadow of Death Before whom Hell and Destruction are naked and open who formeth the costly Jewels secret from the Eyes of covetous Mortals who layeth the dark Vault of Hell and storeth it with Fire and Brimstone and gnawing Worms and blackness of darkness and all the Instruments of eternal Death The measure thereof is longer then the Earth The Earth is long from one end of it to another Mathematicians tell us from East to West it 's 22000 miles but the knowledge of God is much longer the measure thereof is beyond all measure And broader then the Sea The Ocean is exceeding broad it seems to them that Sail on it to be
Just in what it forbids us to do and good in both What Laws in the World are in any degree comparable to the Laws of God The Mahometan Laws which have gained so much credit in the greatest part almost of the known World are impure Laws allowing Revenge Poligamy and commanding Slaughters Oppressions c. for the Propagation of their Religion The Laws of the severest Heathen Lycurgus c. contained but the Carcass and Body of Purity had nothing of the Soul and Life thereof How many Sins against the very Law of Nature did that Lacedemonian Law-Giver allow of and where he or any of the rest did forbid Sin it was in the outward actions not in the inward affections Their Laws did rather Command the covering of Sin that it might not appear abroad then the killing of Sin that it might not be at all Their Laws were defective as to persons some Men were usually priviledged and not bound to them as to the parts of men they gave the inward man liberty though they restrained the outward as to Punishments the greatest Penalty they could think of or impose was a Temporal Death They never dreamed of an Hell in another World But O how pure how perfect is the Law of God! Thy Word is very pure saith David Psal 119. So pure that there is not the least mixture falshood or error in it It commands all and nothing but conformity to the mind of the great Soveraign and Lord of all things The Law of the Lord is perfect Psal 19.7 So perfect that it is not deficient in any thing It commandeth purity in the whole man in every faculty of the Soul in every member of the Body It commandeth purity in this whole man at all times in all companies in all conditions in all relations in all manner of conversation 1 Pet. 1.15 16. Psal 119.1 2. It 's apparent to common sense that fallen man could never dream of such strict exact Precepts no he is so far from it that he is wholly contrary thereunto Rom. 8.7 And Angels could not imagine them unless God had signified his mind to them For all holiness being a conformity to the Will of the most high God they could not discern what was holy what was unholy any farther then they could discover the Will of this incomparable God 2. The mystery of its Doctrines It containeth such Depths such bottomless Profundities that could not possibly have been imagin'd by Men or Angels had not God reveal'd them It acquainteth us with things far above the reach of created Reason though not contrary yet being told us are so correspondent that there is no ground left for the questioning them What the great Apostle saith upon occasion of one mystery we may say upon the whole O the Depth O the Depth of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God! Rom. 11.33 O the Depth of the holy Scriptures There is a Depth in them that none can fathome because a Depth in them that hath no bottom Great is the mystery of the Bible Who could think of a Womans coming into the World without a Woman as Eve of a mans coming into the World without a man as the Son of man nay without man or woman as Adam who could think that the same Woman should be a Mother a Virgin But these are small mysteries who could think that many thousands millions living many Miles and Ages distant should be fellow members and be truly one Body sympathising with serviceable to rejoycing in the welfare of each other all be united unto receive influence from and live wholly by one Head as far from them as Heaven is from the Earth Eph. 5.27 28 29 30. Coloss 2.19 Who could have thought that three really and personally distinct should be equal and one in nature and essence 1 John 5.7 Who could have imagin'd that God should become Man infinite become finite the Creator a Creature the Father of Spirits become Flesh and the Lord of Life be put to Death Who could conceive that he who made all things of nothing should be made himself of a Woman made by him That he whom the Heavens and Heaven of Heavens cannot contain should be contained in the narrow Womb of a Woman That the onely Bread of Life should be hungry the onely Water of Life be thirsty the onely Rest be weary the onely Ease be pained and the onely Joy and Consolation be sorrowful exceeding sorrowful unto Death Who could have imagin'd that one yea millions should be rich by anothers poverty filled by anothers emptiness be exalted by anothers disgrace healed by anothers wounds eased by anothers Pains be absolved by anothers Condemnation and live eternally by anothers temporal Death Who could have imagin'd that infinite Justice and infinite Mercy should be made fast Friends and fully satisfied by one and the same action that the greatest fury and the greatest favor the greatest hatred and the greatest love should concur in and be manifested by one and the same thing Could Men or Angels speak such Mysterles surely No. Several Mysteries in the Scriptures were hid from whole Ages and Generations of Men Which in former Ages was not made known to the Children of Men Eph. 3.5 No nor to Angels neither Verse 10. To the intent that now unto Principalities and Powers might be made by the Church the manifold Wisdom of God 3. The Prophesies and Predictions of the Word Neither Men nor Angels can fore-tell those things which depend not on natural Causes or which may not be deduced from moral or political Grounds and even in such things as these are they may be and have been deceived Therefore it was the subtilty of the old Serpent to deliver his Oracles often in ambiguous words and in deceitful Speeches that whatsoever happened his Credit might be salved as his Aio te Aeacida Romanos vincere posse Ibis redibis nunquam per bellae peribis c. But God fore-tels what hath no print of any footing in Nature what neither moral nor political Principles can direct unto and never fails in his Predictions He fore-tells the Birth of Cyrus 100 years before he was born Isa 48.28 The Birth of Josiah 200 years 1 Kings 13.2 The Conversion of the Gentiles and falling off of the Jews above 2000 years before it came to pass Gen. 9.27 Isa 49.6 Isa 54.9 10. He fore-tells the Birth of Chirst near 4000 years before he came into the World Gen. 3.15 And it is very observable how punctual and particular he is herein as knowing how much the well-fare of the World did depend upon the Knowledge of the true Messiah he tells you long before-hand of what Tribe he should come of Judah of what Family Davids of what Person a Virgin where he should be born in Bethlehem whence he must be called out of Egypt what his condition should be in general full of Sorrows and Griefs in particular that he should be disgraced and reviled tempted betrayed
what poor pitiful Nothings what is a strong Sampson to the Almighty God but as straw as chaff as rotten wood as all weakness what is the Age of Methuselah to the duration of the eternal God to whose Age Millions of years add not a moment but as a minute as nothing Psal 39.5 What is the wisdom of Solomon to all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge which are in the only wise God but a curious web of folly Coloss 2.9 What is the holiness of an Angel to the holiness of God but as a candle to the Sun yea as perfect night and darkness to the Noon-day O therefore how shouldst thou labour to know this God how industrious shouldst thou be to be acquainted with him When the Queen of Sheba had heard of the extraordinary knowledge and abilities of Solomon she came from the utmost parts of the earth to see his person and to hear his wisdome But behold Reader a greater than Solomon is here Solomon was an Ideot an Innocent to this object which I request thee to know The understanding of God is infinite Psal 147.5 There is no searching of his understanding Isa 40.28 Indeed it is bottomless and therefore can never be found out His knowledge can never be known fully no not by Angels themselves Do men beat their brains and consume their bodies and waste their estates and deny themselves the pleasures of the flesh as many Heathen have done for the knowledge of nature of the heavenly bodies and their motions of the Sea and its ebbing and flowing of the earth and the creatures thereon when after all their search they were still at a loss and for all the knowledge they attained they proved but learned Dunces what wouldst thou then do for the knowledge of the God of nature of the mighty possessor of Heaven and Earth of him to whom all things are less than nothing of him the knowledge of whom will make thee wise to Salvation O Friend this is the only knowledge worth seeking worth getting worth prizing worth glorying in Jer. 9.23 24. Thus saith the Lord let not the wise man glory in his wisdom neither let the mighty man glory in his might nor the rich man glory in his riches Worldly knowledge strength wealth are not worth glorying in what then is The next verse tells you But let him that glorieth glory in this in what that he understandeth and knoweth me that I am the Lord c. This is a jewel that a man may boast of and glory in that he knoweth me that I am the Lord. There is an excellency in all knowledge Knowledge is the eye of the Soul to direct it in its motions it is the lamp the light of the Soul set up by God himself to guide it in its actions The understanding of man is the candle of the Lord Prov. 20.27 Without knowledge the Soul is but a Dungeon of darkness and blackness full of confusion and terror But there is an incomparable excellency in the knowledge of this incomparable God The object doth elevate and heighten the act There is a vast difference between the knowledg of earthly things and heavenly things between the knowledge of wise strong faithful merciful just holy men and the only wise omnipotent unchangeable righteous most holy God Only before I proceed to the urging this Use I would desire thee Reader to take notice what knowledge of God it is which I am pressing thee to labour for it is not a meer notional speculative knowledge though a knowledge of apprehension is a duty necessary Eph. 5.17 Psal 143.8 Heb. 8.9 10. but an experimental knowledge Thou hast made me to know wisdom in my secret parts Psal 51.6 The heart is called the secret part because known only to God 1 Kings 8.39 such a knowledge as affecteth the heart with love to him and fear of him and hatred of what is contrary to him true knowledge takes the heart as well as takes the head Psal 1.6 1 Kings 8.38 Phil. 3.10 and influenceth the life 1 Joh. 2.4 He that saith I know him and keepeth not his Commandments is a lyar and the truth is not in him Coloss 1.9 10. John 10.4 5. Right knowledge though it begin at the head doth not end there but falls down upon the heart to affect that and floweth out in the life to order and regulate that Coloss 1.10 We pray for you that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding for what end and to what purpose that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work To enforce this Use I shall give thee two or three Motives and as many means To encourage thee to study the knowledge of this God consider these three properties of it 1. The true knowledge of this God will be a sanctifying knowledge If thou hast any thing of a man I mean of Reason in thee holiness which was thy primitive perfection which is the Image of the incomparable God and will fit thee for his special love and eternal embraces will be a strong and cogent argument with thee Now this knowledge of God will conform thee to God render thee like unto him who is the pattern and standard of all excellency As I said before knowledge is the eye by which we see God and the vision of God causeth an assimulation to him But we all with open face beholding as in a Glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of our God 2 Cor. 3.18 The Blackamore that often look'd on beautiful pictures brought forth a beautiful Son We are often changed into the postures and fashions yea and dispositions of those whom we much converse with on earth surely then acquaintance with the gracious and Holy God will make us in some measure to resemble him Other knowledge pollutes and defiles the soul Oftentimes the more men pick the lock of Natures Cabinet and look into her riches and treasury her secrets and mysteries the more Atheistical they are and forgetful of the God of Nature Hence Religio Medici is irreligion they see so much of the operations of nature that they ascribe the principal efficiency to the instrument And hence the wisdom of the Philosophers counted the wisest men in the world is folly 1 Cor. 3.19 And though they professed themselves to be wise yet they became fools and were guilty of all manner of wickedness Rom. 1.22 to the end And what was the reason but this they knew not God with all their knowledge 1 Cor. 1.21 Ignorant heads are ever accompanied with irreligious hearts and both are attended with Atheistical lives Eph. 4.18 The Apostle tells us of the Heathen that they were estranged from the life of God an holy life through the ignorance that was in them because of the blindness of their hearts So Hos 4.1 2 3 4.